Maritime Journal - December 2015

"L'Escapade is 28 metres long and 5 metres wide and can hold 102 cruise passengers for a few hours of navigation or alternatively it can accommodate 60 people for sit down meals aboard.

The idea of the "Communaute De Communes Des Deux Vallees" was to understand the importance of giving its passengers both comfort and environmental protection in a single package [...] Passengers sail on the Oise river in absolute silence, surrounded by nature and without the noise and the emissions which could harm the surrounding environment..."

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"Italian marine transmission specialist Transfluid, has supplied a hybrid system for this new Alumarine Shipyard passenger boat on the river Oise, a tributary of the Seine which passes through Belgium and France.

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The idea of the "Communaute De Communes Des Deux Vallees" was to understand the importance of giving its passengers both comfort and environmental protection in a single package. The agency commissioned the L'Escapade, designed by Belgian naval architects DN&T and built at the Alumarine shipyard in Coueron on the Loire Atlantique.

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L'Escapade is 28 metres long and 5 metres wide, can hold 102 cruise passengers for a few hours of navigation or alternatively it can accommodate 60 people for sit down meals aboard.

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The customer's request was to be able to navigate rivers at cruising speed in utmost silence while at the same time having a vessel that would lend itself to different uses such as cruise-speed navigation, catering cruises, special events and so on; the solution put forward by the shipyard met all these needs using a Transfluid hybrid system.

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The boat is equipped with a Volvo D5A TA engine providing 118 kW at 2300 rpm, combined with a Transfluid model HM2000 hybrid transmission and a Power shift model Revermatic 11-700RBD with a reduction ratio of 1.88 as well an integrated thrust bearing. The electrical power of the hybrid system is 75 kW. The energy is provided by on-board Exide FE-LI-PO4 batteries that supply the hybrid system while navigating in pure electric mode.

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The Transfluid hybrid system fitted on L'Escapade is the HM2000 model with a 75 Kw rated thrust electric engine at a rotation speed of 3000 rpm and powered on 300 V dc voltage batteries by a single frequency bidirectional drive which enables the use of the electric engine both as a motor and as a generator. A Translfuid Revermatic marine gear is fitted on the hybrid system and this, together with the power shift technology installed, makes thrust smoother.

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The hybrid module provides what Transfluid calls a â€˜booster modeâ€™. This mode allows the skipper to add the thrust of the diesel engine to that of the electric motor, even in the transitional rotation speed phase, especially in complex navigation phases or while manoeuvring [...].

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The first impressions of the vesselâ€™s tourist customers are encouraging and positive. Passengers sail on the Oise in absolute silence, surrounded by nature and without the noise and the emissions which could harm the surrounding environment."